Four-year-old Roshan Lama is in hospital with 20% burns.
On Saturday night, his neighbour, Sheikh Shajahan Khan, had poured a pot of boiling hot soup on his back.
The reason — Khan’s ongoing bickering with Roshan’s father Milan Lama.
“Time and again, we have
protested about Khan’s misconduct and he did this to take revenge on my family. He tried to murder my son,” said Lama, a resident of Park Circus.

Lama owns an eatery, Chilli Pepper, in the minority-dominated middle-class locality. And he is the next-door neighbour of Khan.

On Saturday, Roshan had gone out to play with Khan’s niece. While he was calling her, Khan came out stealthily and poured the soup on him.

The child sustained 20% burns.

“When I tried to take off his shirt, the skin of his back and stomach peeled off with it,” Lama said. Few in the area had a good word for Khan.

The man, they alleged, is a police informer and he threw his weight around — getting into frequent brawls with the locals.

“Several complaints had been lodged with the police against him, but no action had ever been taken,” said a resident on condition of anonymity.

This time, they decided to use a firm hand with him — literally. Badly beaten up, Khan, too, was admitted in hospital on Saturday.

The police have taken action as well, though they denied having any link with Khan.

“He was not our source. We have lodged a case and if investigation reveals that he attempted to kill the boy, we will book him under relevant sections,” said Sitaram Bhattacharjee, officer-in-charge of Karea police station.